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Re: Russell Queens

I've been jealously reading for months, those in warmer climates working their bees and collection swarms, etc.
All the while my over wintered bees are still huddled in the hives, with only an occasional cleansing flight.
I wish I could be as patient as some of you who can be OK with accepting your queens anytime they should show.
If they 'show' here too late in the fall, They will just go right into a hive preparing to over winter, and you know how that goes.
The inactive period my bees have to endure is a little scary already. I have heard the Sunkist queens may not do well here in the North. My plan was to split my hives early, get a few of the strongest queens grafted and mated with local drones for a hardier bee that would stand a better chance for survival.
Like I said in another post, I've pretty much lost interest in Russell queens. It's not worth the hassle and being involved in all the drama. I just wish I had known early enough so I could have ordered queens from somewhere else. I only get one short season, then it is a long wait until next year to try new ideas. The only reason I'm posting here is to give others the info they need to make an informed choice when ordering from this company. I wish I'd done a little more research before I placed my order.

Someone said it is 'Known' that if you need queens for timed splits or in a certain time frame, Don't order from Russell. I had never seen that anywhere. THAT needs to be in plain view on their web site-right on the ordering page. There is a lot of info on their web site, but you have to search all over for it. I wasn't interested in taking the time to read all the forum posts or search for hidden clues.

I am somewhat take aback from Russells defenders. With no input from this company, I can only wonder if what they say is true or not concerning Russell Apiaries business policies.
What I do know is the average consumer expects an industry standard of product and service when ordering from a said company. If Russell has a different customer service procedure that what the customer generally would expect, they certainly need to say so plainly. They don't have a crystal ball and cannot predict tornadoes or accidents. We don't have a crystal ball and with no communication from them, cannot guess what they are thinking or doing.

customer service from Russell Apairies

Is anyone else out there having bad experiences with Russell Apiaries? I am desperate for help. I contacted Russell Apiaries on March 10 to see if they had queens available for some queenless hives. I told them I need them ASAP and would only place an order if they had queens in stock and could ship immediately. It took them one week to respond to my email, but they sent me an email saying they had a big order cancel and they could get 10 queens out to me if I would just go online and pay them. I said great and paid using paypal. The queens never came, I emailed them constantly and never would have placed the order if they had not told me they could ship the queens right out. I know they have experienced some terrible storms since then, but my order was placed before the storms hit by a couple of weeks........Well my emergency order of queens never came so on April 13 I canceled the order and asked for a refund ( I lost half the queenless hives). Russell Apiaries will not respond to my emails or phone calls and they have not refunded my money. I am at the mercy of a faceless company that does not care. Has anyone else out there had an experience like this. How can a business continue to stay in business when they steal money from people like this????? No bees and no refund, in all 50 states that is theft. I would strongly caution anyone out there to think twice about ordering from Russell Apiaries. They have lots of different kinds of queens, but their customer service is non existent.

By the way, I had another order placed for about 20 queens, those came after the aftermath of the storms. They arrived pretty much on time considering the mess from the storms. I don't have any issues with that, although several of the queens never laid. I believe they were virgins that were too old to breed by the time the storm was finished,anyway that is a different story.

I am very disappointed and I fear that I will never see my $250 again.

Re: Russell Queens

Originally Posted by Barry Digman

One could always raise their own queens.

For some of us (and the farther north you get - I think the more this applies), this isn't a realistic option, particularly early in the season. Most years, I don't have drones here until mid/late May - and those are the drones from the commercial operations. There is no way that I can control for genetics. If I tried to raise my own queens at that point, I would have queens hybridized with Italians bred for the commercial industry. This means that I would likely have few hives overwinter successfully.

Additionally, our growing season is so short (most years) that the time it takes to go from an egg to a laying queen (generally at least a month or so) and then hatch the first real cycle of brood (another 3-4 weeks) means that I am having hives or nucs that are just getting started in early/mid July at best. They aren't surviving the winter either.

I have produced some queens myself. Often this is either 1) by accident or 2) with the intent of producing a 'replacement' queen for other hives in the fall. Spring queens though - I have to buy.

Re: Russell Queens

Originally Posted by Lauri

THAT needs to be in plain view on their web site-right on the ordering page. . . I wasn't interested in taking the time to read all the forum posts

I'm sorry that you didn't know that earlier, but your own "interest" led you to not fully read about what you were ordering. The information was there. Granted it wasn't in bold letters, staring you in the face right before you clicked "pay" but the information was there none the less. If you were not interested in looking for some more information . . . either doing a search for "Russell" on this site, or looking at the forums on his site . . . you kinda get what you get. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's the same thing with anything else you order.

Originally Posted by Lauri

I am somewhat take aback from Russells defenders. With no input from this company, I can only wonder if what they say is true or not concerning Russell Apiaries business policies.

I'm really disappointed by that comment.

I understand that you are disappointed with Russell's. I understand that you had certain expectations and the real life didn't live up to those. There is no reason to imply that I, or anyone else here, is intentionally lying to you. That's just cold.

And this right here is one of the largest issues I have with the people on this site. Beekeepers in general are very supportive. Every beekeeper I've met in person will help you out in any way you need. They treat you with respect, and they know that beekeepers stick together. Obviously, all beekeepers don't agree and have arguments, but they never turn on their own kind (with a few warranted exceptions). But then we come to the internet and things change. You disagree with what I have to say, so instead of disputing it or discussing it, you turn against me. You accuse me of lying to you, feeding you false information, or having ulterior motives. That hurts the whole industry in my opinion.

Re: Russell Queens

Victoria contacted me at russell's and as soon as Robert gets in the office to approve the refund i will get my money back. So i should be good to go. just though id let every one know that they are working with me.
Nick

Re: Russell Queens

Not picking a fight with you, but really this is the thing that keeep this thread going and going.

"I'm sorry that you didn't know that earlier, but your own "interest" led you to not fully read about what you were ordering. The information was there. Granted it wasn't in bold letters, staring you in the face right before you clicked "pay" but the information was there none the less."

Do you or do you not have to join the club to view their web page? I don't have the time to join a bunch of internet sites and read to my hearts content. That's why I have money to buy queens. I work most of the day.

"I'm really disappointed by that comment. I understand that you are disappointed with Russell's. I understand that you had certain expectations and the real life didn't live up to those. There is no reason to imply that I, or anyone else here, is intentionally lying to you. That's just cold."

I did not word that correctly. If I was calling you a lier you would absolutly know it with no doubt.
What I said was I said I didn't know if Russell defenders statements were true or not. Here's the difference:
A few customers perceptions of what this company's policies and business practices are may NOT be exactly correct. I would not want others to establish what my policies are, I'd want people to hear them right from me to be sure they are totally correct and to consider any details.
Your perception and views may be based on your knowledge and friendship with Mr. Russell, but still may be your own perception. Sorry for the offence, it was not intended. I did not name you and really, you were not the 'target' There are many others who have stated their comments too.

Re: Russell Queens

Originally Posted by swarm_trapper

Victoria contacted me at russell's and as soon as Robert gets in the office to approve the refund i will get my money back. So i should be good to go. just though id let every one know that they are working with me.
Nick

This company will make promises to refund your money, but I believe they purposely delay you until it is to late to file a complaint with PayPal. PayPal has a 45 day period until they will no longer open a dispute. I too was promised a refund by Victoria until after my 45 day limit expired, then..............no response from Russell Apairies. Beware all you defenders, there is a wolf in sheeps clothing.

Re: Russell Queens

Originally Posted by Lauri

Do you or do you not have to join the club to view their web page? I don't have the time to join a bunch of internet sites and read to my hearts content. That's why I have money to buy queens. I work most of the day.

Personally I don't really see the issue with joining the site. It literally takes 5 min. If you aren't interested in doing it, that's fine, but don't say you couldn't have known. You could have, but you chose not to. Once you join the site, it isn't like you need to spend hours and hours scouring the site. About a half an hour would probably give you a good idea of the information you want. If you don't have a half an hour to research behind your couple hundred, or couple thousand dollar order, you should rethink your ordering process. Not an insult (or not intended). If I didn't have anything other than 5 min to place an order with someone, I'd call someone local and wouldn't take a chance on ANYONE that was out of state. That way if there is a problem you can show up at their door step. If you take a chance with someone you don't know anything about, and you didn't take the time to look into it, there is risk associate with that.

But if we were to assume that Russell's did owe you a certain amount of disclosure (which I don't think they do) and we assume that the location of that disclosure currently isn't fair (i.e. the forums, which I don't think it isn't), I still don't really see the issue. Instead of placing the information on the forum, Robert could instead make a 25 page "disclosure sheet" that you need to check next to saying you read it. Who would read it? If you don't have the five min to register and the 30 min to look at the forums, you won't have the time to read the 25 page "disclosure sheet" and you'd be in the same position. There is just too much information to have everything upfront, in bold. So if you didn't look at the information where it was, it doesn't really matter if they move it to a new location and have it flash colors, most people still won't read it. He presented the information, you could have read it if you wanted to, you chose not to, to me that's enough.

Originally Posted by Lauri

I would not want others to establish what my policies are, I'd want people to hear them right from me to be sure they are totally correct and to consider any details.
Your perception and views may be based on your knowledge and friendship with Mr. Russell, but still may be your own perception.

I totally agree. I'm not the official voice of Russell Apiaries. Take that into consideration.

However, the official voice of Russell Apiaries has been run off by the official voice of Beesource. Rumor has it that a Russell member is allowed to log into this site, but isn't allowed to post anymore. Just a rumor.

His employees used to post frequently as well. They were ridiculed, so they stopped. I don't blame them.

So yes, I'm not the official voice of Russell's, but the official voices were here and no one wanted to hear from them, so they left (some voluntarily, some involuntarily). If you want information, at the time being the loyal customers are your best source. If you want to just scream at the wall and get zero answers, I'll gladly stop posting. Some information is better than none, especially when you ask questions.

Originally Posted by Lauri

Sorry for the offence, it was not intended. I did not name you and really, you were not the 'target' There are many others who have stated their comments too.

Re: Russell Queens

Re: Russell Queens

"However, the official voice of Russell Apiaries has been run off by the official voice of Beesource. Rumor has it that a Russell member is allowed to log into this site, but isn't allowed to post anymore. Just a rumor"

Re: Russell Queens

I dont know what every ones situation is,but i ordered my queens last year and i received my moonbeams today, which is on time delivery btw, and they actually threw in an extra 4 queens, 2 they say are a hybrid #410 and 2 danish. I guess a little professionalism and understanding goes a long way when dealing with them. I am super impressed! They always returned my emails and calls, never had an issue dealing with them! Oh and i have had more than one dealing with them also.

Re: Russell Queens

When I posted this initial thread I had no idea that 93 posts later it would still be an ongoing issue or concern. I simply wanted to pass along the information that I had received my queens from Russell in a timely manner and that Russell and his staff had always been professional and had kept in touch. I had never ordered his queens before but I wanted to try some of the Sunkist. I would not hesitate to order queens from them in the future. I for one have very much enjoyed my time visiting and posting on this website. Thank you Barry for providing this service. Perhaps there are others that have grown tired of the trials and tribulations of one queen breeder just trying to make a living like everyone else. NY Blues and Lauri is looks like you both have done very well by Russell. Peace to you all and good luck with your bees.

"Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay".....Krishnamurti

Re: Russell Queens

Just a guess, but I'm guessing Barry was "just kidding" on that one...if Dr. Russell had THAT MUCH free time to argue with random people on BeeSource, then I'm guessing he'd be spending the time on answering emails from irate customers instead...or at least I'd HOPE that would be the case, as it'd do far more for his bottom-line IMHO
(Oh, and before any rumors get started, I'm just a nobody who has no affiliation with anyone...except for my wife, of course )

Re: Russell Queens

So now this thread is up to 5000 views . Defenders vs stiffed customers . I can take vids of perfect patterns and some i have to squish . The major issue is money . Im pretty sure everyone here works hard for their money too . When people that have payed a year in advance for queens see someone say ...I got mine it tends to set the rest of of us off . Is this company a Seinfeld show with a soup nazi ? No queens for you . The key word here is juvenile . I'm dealing with children . This company needs to put its big boy pants on and live up to its bragging or get out of this biz . There is no way i would have payed for this product if it wasnt from this site and the rave reviews and the smack Bob said about backing up his bees . Wheres Waldo ? Wheres my refund ? Wheres my bees ? Nice echo . That was my money flushed . Barry ,,,i sure hope Bob is pulled from the breeder list . The only course of action i have left is legal .

Re: Russell Queens

Originally Posted by seal62

So now this thread is up to 5000 views . Defenders vs stiffed customers . I can take vids of perfect patterns and some i have to squish . The major issue is money . Im pretty sure everyone here works hard for their money too . When people that have payed a year in advance for queens see someone say ...I got mine it tends to set the rest of of us off . Is this company a Seinfeld show with a soup nazi ? No queens for you . The key word here is juvenile . I'm dealing with children . This company needs to put its big boy pants on and live up to its bragging or get out of this biz . There is no way i would have payed for this product if it wasnt from this site and the rave reviews and the smack Bob said about backing up his bees . Wheres Waldo ? Wheres my refund ? Wheres my bees ? Nice echo . That was my money flushed . Barry ,,,i sure hope Bob is pulled from the breeder list . The only course of action i have left is legal .

I could not have said it better my self, it is easy to be popular when the sun is shining, but when the chips are down, where is mister professional now.....To all those of you who are staunch lovers, all I can say is your day is coming. And one more thing.....You can only buy using paypal and paypal has a 45 window to file a complaint. When you order moonbeam queens 6 months in advance and they never arrive, this is way past paypal's window to file a complaint......believe me I have tried, and don't think that Russell does not know this. There are lots of breeders out there and I will not give robert another penny of mine!